That was the moment that the impossible occurred.
In the middle of the day, under blazing blue-white sun in the middle of the
desert of Hinnemon, it began to snow.
People screamed almost more in fright over
that than the warring monsters at their gate.
The FireDrakes were high in the sky, casting a tiny blot of shadow over
Lainz and in that shadow, snow fell. It
melted almost instantly but refroze and fell again until the whole mass of Mom
and monster, Alissa and Amardad was
covered with a blanket of white that wasn’t sand.
That was when Alissa began screaming. “No! Don’t freeze me out of code! No!
No! I’ll be good, I swear I promise I
will I will! I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry!”
“You swear.
Swear to obey me as long as you are a guest of Lainz. By your bones, Siwion or I will fill them full of ice instead of marrow so that
they may never be animated again.”
“I swear! I swear by the life in my bones!”
“I accept your oath.” Amardad’s voice was
like a sword made out of frozen air.
The
FireDrakes above unlocked from their pattern, letting the sun shine through
again and the snow whiffed away into steam.
Amardad straightened and released Alissa who stood, still
shivering. There was a white pattern on
the teacher’s outside veil that looked as though acid had eaten the colour away
in the shape of a knife. She turned to where Ilax and Kyrus still stood firm
between the city and the mess.
“With Your permission, Radiance, I would
like to welcome my new student to the city of Lainz. She is under oath to me. I will hold myself
responsible for her behaviour while in the city. On my life.”
Ky had pulled up, over his fathers, waiting
for orders. Now was not the time to
grandstand and throw a Scarlet into a field of Pitters.
“Your student is welcome, High
Teacher. You have pledged your life
against her good behaviour and your control of her coding.”
Amardad nodded and a dozen of her students,
all in their school veiling, came running out to begin clearing and fixing the
damage that Alissa’s tantrum had done.
The little girl looked around as if
stunned, stepped over the line of the gate’s shadow, slowly. Carefully. Her bone horse limped after her, the ringing
of its bones discordant now, full of cacophony.
She didn’t look back at it, but flinched at every wrong clank or
clatter.
“You will tend your beloved after you have
rested properly,” Amardad said quietly, walking beside her. “Flat in a bed, not tied to your racer, and
after you’ve eaten.”
“Yuck.
I don’t like food. Food is fuel….”
She flinched then, face sullen.
“That is an unfortunate opinion, Siwion Alissa,” was Amardad’s quiet
response.
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